Beatles License 'Norwegian Wood' For Pic

The Fab Four – or their lawyers at EMI Japan to be precise – are letting Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung use the original recording in his latest film Norwegian Wood. Anh Hung, who was nominated for an Oscar aged 31 for The Scent of the Green Papaya, has adapted cult Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. The filmmakers were originally planning to use a cover version, but when Anh Hung was editing, he realised that only the original would do. Fortissimo Films, which is selling the film internationally, says it’s extremely rare for an original Beatles recording to be approved for use in feature films. But I can think of plenty of examples — from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to Ghost Town and Withnail and I. And of course, Robert Zemeckis is remaking Yellow Submarine 3D for Disney.